Luna, from Penhaligon's was released in 2016. The perfumer behind this creation is unknown. It has the top notes of Bergamot, Bitter Orange, and Lemon, middle notes of Jasmine, Juniper Berries, and Rose, and base notes of Ambergris, Fir, and Musk.
An interesting composition then from Penhaligon's and yet again they don't disappoint in bringing an interesting approach to a fragrance which could so easily have been boring or not to my taste. I actually walk my dog of an evening through the city centre and passed the Penhaligon's shop. To cut a long story short, the parade of shops it's on is not on street level and kind of enclosed and when they pump the scent out of the front door, it tends to linger a long time and as such I can still smell it strongly hours after the shop itself is closed. This residual smell of Luna had me intrigued as it smelled very masculine and not really in keeping with the notes I had seen. Now that I've sampled it I can confirm that this is the case but not indeed the whole story. Luna is much fresher with zingy top notes, citruses and dry juniper giving way to a metallic musk and rose. There's even a hint in here of Amouage Lyric man but Luna is much more bitter and that fir gives a masculine edge. This is in direct contrast with what I had perhaps thought that this fragrance would be about the night flowering, white floral jasmine (hence Luna) and lean more toward the feminine but in truth it's absolutely straight down the middle unisex. I should have known by know that Penhaligon's nearly always deliver a degree of complexity and sophistication to their compositions despite the obvious drawbacks of the brand ie: price, longevity issues, and the 'complexity I mentioned being that little bit too subtle for everyone to notice. The deep drydown is one of the musky, rose and florals just with the citrus and juniper died right back but in fairness this takes a long time, so as a fresh summery scent it works and lasts fairly well. (although I did put on quite a liberal application.) Maybe that ambergris is what is giving Luna an air of the luxurious? Again I'm not sure what it is but I like it.
An interesting composition then from Penhaligon's and yet again they don't disappoint in bringing an interesting approach to a fragrance which could so easily have been boring or not to my taste. I actually walk my dog of an evening through the city centre and passed the Penhaligon's shop. To cut a long story short, the parade of shops it's on is not on street level and kind of enclosed and when they pump the scent out of the front door, it tends to linger a long time and as such I can still smell it strongly hours after the shop itself is closed. This residual smell of Luna had me intrigued as it smelled very masculine and not really in keeping with the notes I had seen. Now that I've sampled it I can confirm that this is the case but not indeed the whole story. Luna is much fresher with zingy top notes, citruses and dry juniper giving way to a metallic musk and rose. There's even a hint in here of Amouage Lyric man but Luna is much more bitter and that fir gives a masculine edge. This is in direct contrast with what I had perhaps thought that this fragrance would be about the night flowering, white floral jasmine (hence Luna) and lean more toward the feminine but in truth it's absolutely straight down the middle unisex. I should have known by know that Penhaligon's nearly always deliver a degree of complexity and sophistication to their compositions despite the obvious drawbacks of the brand ie: price, longevity issues, and the 'complexity I mentioned being that little bit too subtle for everyone to notice. The deep drydown is one of the musky, rose and florals just with the citrus and juniper died right back but in fairness this takes a long time, so as a fresh summery scent it works and lasts fairly well. (although I did put on quite a liberal application.) Maybe that ambergris is what is giving Luna an air of the luxurious? Again I'm not sure what it is but I like it.